To Shatter Reflections
by InkTea
Summary: Tsuna is able to summon beings of magic to obey his every whim. Or at least, he could if he had any talent. Far surpassing him is his brother, the apple of his family's eye and their ticket to prestige. One day, Tsuna tries to summon just one last time. He succeeds, but what he calls through sparks a chain of events that no one could have predicted. Magic!AU, All27
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Wax

Blood is a penace and a price.

From the beginning, there has been no truer payment for wrongdoing than a piece of the physical body. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

Pain for pain.

That being said, knowing that blood is the price for sin, would that mean that the act of opening a passage into another plane, another world would be a crime? And is that why blood is required? To repent for overstepping the human station? Perhaps. No one truly knows.

Things are the way they are for a reason, and the ones who ask too many questions often burn.

They always did say that Tsuna ran too hot for comfort.

* * *

He always felt a pressure in his brain when he did it, like someone was gripping the sides of his skull and squeezing with as much force as they could, trying to wring his brain out from every orifice. He felt the eyes on him, burning into his back with judging, swinish gazes, beady eyes intent on dissecting him to find his every flaw and put it on display.

"I don't know why this is necessary." Tsuna looked over to his brother, Ieyasu, who stood just a foot or so away with an inky black abomination on his shouder, rubbing its chin. "My brother has never summoned once, not once in all his fifteen years. Just because he comes from a line of prowess does not mean he has any."

It was a statement of facts, not an insult, and Tsuna let it wash over him with hardly any effect. The sting of these words had long since dulled.

The room they were standing in was circular and dark, it only by candles that smelled of mothballs. There were seats all about the room, and in each seat was a person wearing a set of dark suits and holding a clipboard. The one closest to Ieyasu spoke first with a stern, uncaring tone.

"That may be true, but as tradition stands it is required to test both siblings for summoning aptitude, especially if they are twins."

Another chimed in, this voice much younger and more pleasant.

"And besides, he may have another hidden talent that may not have shown up before. It is through this testing that we are able to truly judge any form of magical prowess."

His brother, taller, broader, and blonder than Tsuna was merely pursed his lips and stood aside, right hand going up to the creature on his shoulder to stroke its hide. He clearly did not approve, but he also did not care enough to stop Tsuna from trying. Ieyasu had already passed the test with flying colors, the summoning circle he had drawn had been perfect and so had the execution. The chances of him entering the academy were high.

Tsuna, on the other hand, continued to smudge the chalk circle, having to redraw it and redraw it again and again. His hands were shaking, and the basic beginner's circle he had drawn was no where near the complex geometrical shape Ieyasu had pulled off. Yet Tsuna still tried. He always tried, despite his terrible luck.

He finished, finally, and when he rose that circle was on the cold stone ground was nearly perfect, the best he had done.

One of the proctors made a note on their clipboard and Tsuna felt his confidence drop a little.

Trying to push it from his mind, he began the hardest part of the summoning. Words came back to him, from the days when his mother woud sit him down and tell him, quietly, the way of things that were not of this world.

* * *

 _"Tsuna, remember this. Words have power, you must respect those have power, you must respect things are not like you in their ways. You must respect while they may serve you, and help you, in an instant they could hurt you." Then she smiled at him, and whispered. "Respect and be kind."_

* * *

Tsuna took a deep breath and spoke from within his chest.

"From far away I call you, and from far away you come."

 _you must respect those words._

"I hold within me the seed of the first man and the breath of the first ground."

 _you must respect yourself._

"You-"

He stopped, faltering, for his words were working for once, the power in him bubbling up and it frightened him and his brother as well, for he stepped back and looked at Tsuna with wide eyes and a pale face. Tsuna knew though, that as soon as the _thing_ inside of him grew to a peak it was be forced to simmer back down, and it would _hurt-_

"You-"

 _these things are not like you in their ways. you must respect that._

 _you must respect, and be kind._

And then Tsuna, Tsuna of weak will and little strength, commited a taboo from which he could never recover. The effects rippled and exploded and changed everything, and yet, even in his oldest years he woud not regret his decision.

Tsuna changed the words.

"You and I together, come to me and we will walk side by side as **one."**

The power in him spilled over like liquid from a glass, ony this liquid bunred him, tears from his eyes sizzling on his cheeks and the flames of the candles growing so high the wax melted away like butter, thick liquid spilling into his circle and burning through the soles of his shoes. The scent of burning flesh and rubber hit his nose and Tsuna wanted to vomit and he did so, stomach churning up bile and saliva that splattered into the runes he had drawn.

Distantly, he heard his brother's voice.

"Tsuna _, finish_ what you have started. Finish this! _Finish this_!"

Shakily, in pain and delirious, Tsuna pulled out his blade and cut his palm along the longest line.

"Blood for blood," he whispered hoarsely from a raw, bloody throat. "Blood for blood."

The drops of blood fell and met the wax and bile and tears and for the very first time, something happened.

* * *

 _A long time ago, a man once stopped his work to observe Tsuna draw a circle upon the ground. He watched as Tsuna cut away at himself to give the offering and stopped him._

 _"You give too much child," he chided softly as he began to stop the blood with a whispered word. He looked into Tsuna's eyes and spoke in a solemn tone._

 _"And if you give too much, they will take too much. Leave some for yourself, child."_

* * *

The world was splitting in half, and there was screaming too, as if a mother was caught in the throes of birth. The tear started at the base of the circle and just kept going, forcing his brother to skip backwards and to the side in a panic as the floor gave way beneath his feet. Out of the corner of his eyes, which were pouring tears, he saw his father grab him and drag him into the stands.

Tsuna was in pain. His mouth was open wide and salivia spilled out of it in a rush and pooled in the circle. Tears hit the chalk and smeared his painstakingly drawn runes with a sizzle of steam. His hand bled and the pressure in his mind increased to the point where he was almost begging the bliss of unconsciousness to take him away, far away from this pain. The building was rumbling, stone dust shaking free of the ceiling and the protors were hiding beneath their desks, voices raised in alarm.

He was trapped standing, unable to sway or move even as his eyes rolled in his head.

Then, a massive claw poked through the rip with the sound of a crack of thunder, large and black and deadly enough to cut off Tsuna's head with barely a twitch. The claw itself was larger than Tsuna was and he nearly went hysterical, for the rest of the being must have been too huge to fit through the gap to begin with.

His very last sight before his body gave out on him was of a single eye, the slit pupil the size of Tsuna and the color a bright white, swiming about in a sea of black.

" **I accept this bargain."**

The deep voice rang in his ears, low and earth shaking, and was almost enough to make him vomit again, but instead he felt and large hand brace itself against his back, and faint burning sensation on his right wrist, and a hand over his eyes.

He fell asleep.

End Chapter One

A/N: Well, that was fun to write. Not gonna lie, I literally have no plans for this story. Characters? Plot? I know not what those are. I honestly don't even know if I will continue this, but it is nice to write a magic based AU once in awhile. Any thoughts on this? Feel free to let me know!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The Law Of Equivalence

 _'If you give too much, they will take too much. Be careful.'_

He was awake.

No, that was wrong. He was awake, but he was still sleeping. He had been in pain when he had fallen asleep, and the world had been full of too much light and sound. Now, he was not in pain, and his surroundings were quiet and dark. He had to still be sleeping.

This was just a lucid dream.

He felt as if he was floating in the dark, fathomless black surrounding him for as far as his mortal eyes could see. Tsuna relaxed, limbs limp as he drifted along an invisible current.

It was after some time that the inky black of his surroundings changed and parted, and before him came a woman dressed entirely in white, rounded with child. She walked through the darkness with graceful steps, the paleness of her figure stark against the blue-black of the night. She looked like a beacon of light in the dark sea, and she moved with waves invisible to his eyes.

The darkness around her feet grew tendrils and they began to snake up her ankles, curling around her calves and tugging slightly. She did not scream, but rather she smiled as the dark, curling, wispy fingers tugged in a way that was almost playful, occasionally drawing blood from careless little cuts and nicking at the hem of the woman's dress.

The woman began to kneel into a sitting position, hand beneath her large belly for support.

"Be more careful," she chided softly, still smiling. The darkness rose to meet her, supporting her as she settled down to rest. "Be more careful, Reborn."

Then, the same woman turned to him and Tsuna saw the little imprint of a flower etched beneath her eye as she spoke to him.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

What? Who was she? What did she-

"Sawada Tsunayoshi."

Her voice was deepening, and Tsuna felt the fear he had known only in the summoning room creep into him.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi, wake up."

And he did.

There was a spider on his arm, long-legged and jet-black. Tsuna would have panicked under normal circumstances, but as it were the call of sleep was tugging on his lids and he opted to let the little thing be as he settled back into the soft sheets and sighed, hot air running over his lips. He was relaxing again, coaxed into a soft, easy state of sleep when the spider suddenly bit down, hard.

The hands of a Summoner were always more sensitive than others, being the direct channel for magic that they were. After such an intense display of raw power, his body was even more sensitive than usual and the tiny bite felt more like a stab wound. Yelping, he jerked up a little and tried to push the arachnid away with weak fingers only for a hand much larger than his own to settle down on his fingers and crush the thing. Tsuna jerked beneath the broad palm, unused to such heat radiating from a person and disliking the feel of crushed guts on his hand. Gently, that same hand lifted his own from the bed and after cleaning the dead spider away, a long red tongue slid free of a mouth and slid up and over the tiny pinprick of blood, cleaning it away.

Tsuna was fully awake now, but his brain still had some difficulty processing what exactly was going on seeing as a stranger had his hand in their mouth.

Said stranger looked to be tall even though he was sitting in a chair, with dark hair, curly sideburns, and black eyes. All of him was dark in fact, the suit he wore the color of ink and moving just the same when he shifted, like a drop of color in water, wispy and almost intangible. The only colors on him were his small white pupils and the bright yellow band that wrapped around his fedora, the paleness of his skin stark in contrast to his clothes.

He looked human.

Tsuna could tell that he wasn't.

Making full on, direct eye contact with Tsuna, whoever it was released Tsuna's finger from his mouth, the red of his tongue reminding Tsuna's sluggish mind of raw meat.

"I would appreciate," they said, in a deep voice that was all too familiar, "you not being so careless with this blood. Most of it is mine after all."

Tsuna sat on the bed, mouth dropping open again and again like a fish as he attempted to string some proper words together.

"What..." He managed, after a few moments of heavy silence where the thing sitting next to him continued to stare.

When he spoke, it smiled and the fact that whatever it was not human because even more clear, the handsome human face it wore smiling a little too wide with a little too many teeth.

From the foot of the bed, he heard a voice.

"Wonderful! Just amazing! Up in three hours, maybe less!"

Turning his head, which felt so heavy on his shoulders, Tsuna saw one of the suited proctors, now wearing a thick black robe, at the foot of his bed. They were still holding one of those damned clipboards and beneath the hood, Tsuna saw a pale face stretched into a lipless grin. Literally. Where the lips might have been on the mouth he saw there was only scar tissue, and Tsuna could see every tooth and the saliva-coated gums that looked raw. It was a gruesome mouth, and Tsuna felt his empty stomach turn as he looked away.

The proctor continued without a sign that they had noticed Tsuna's discomfort, or that they even acknowledged the strange...thing beside his bed.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi,"they said to him in a warm tone, "I, as a standing representative of the Institution of Saitas committee would like to personally present you with your acceptance letter into the academy, as well as congratulate you on your first successful contract!"

A paper was placed onto his lap, and Tsuna struggled to pick it up with stiff, aching fingers. His hands felt as if the veins in them would burst if he so much as bent his fingers too far, and he nearly dropped the unopened letter several times before finally getting it open to read the contents.

 _ **To Sawada Tsunayoshi**_

 _ **You have recently been accepted into The Institution of Saitas**_

 _ **We welcome new blood into the fold**_

 _ **Your family has been notified, and class begins on September 1.**_

 _ **Signed,**_

 _ **Timoteo Vongola, Chairman and current head of the Vongola bloodline.**_

Tsuna must have been still asleep. He felt lethargic and numb, and despite his near constant studying and training in hopes that he would even have a chance at being accepted, he felt nothing except a sinking suspicion that things were going to go very wrong from here.

Looking up, he saw the proctor looking at him with an expectant face and in an attempt to appease him, Tsuna smiled. His lips were cracked and dry, but he seemed to pull off a passable grin as the proctor beamed at him with that gruesome mouth. The monocle on his left eye glinted in the neon hospital light. Tsuna felt a migraine birth in the back of his mind, growing slowly.

"Well, I look forward to having you! Why don't you spend some time with your new contract? Bond a little before the semester starts?"

Tsuna abruptly felt a drop in his stomach when he remembered who was sitting next to him, quiet and dark as a shadow.

Before he could say anything, the proctor was gone and Tsuna was left alone with whatever he had summoned.

"Don't be so nervous, I don't have any thoughts of harming you."

Tsuna blinked, and as he watched so did his summon, one lid closing up and down and another, clear lid sliding sideways across each eye. Pushing an untidy brown lock from his face, Tsuna's gaze dropped down to his right hand and he jumped a little as he noticed a black mark that most certainly had not been there before. The summon smiled, revealing a straight row of too many black teeth, and reached forward to take his hand.

"We've contracted, I'm sure that you know what that means."

Once again, Tsuna saw that handsome-too-many-teeth smirk cross the now familiar face.

"It means that we belong to each other..." Tsuna felt his mouth moving and heard the words come out, but he really had no idea how his brain was managing such an action. Willpower maybe?

The summon blinked for a second. The second eyelid swiped over that black eye and Tsuna now found the action more interesting than terrifying, mesmerized by the motion.

Before anything else could be said, there was a knock on the door to the infirmary and Ieyasu stepped in, the same inky black being on his shoulder, the tar-like substance of his body slipping and sliding over his shoulder blades.

"Tsuna." He greeted, gruffly.

Tsuna held up his hand in a little wave, trying to think of a good conversation starter as his brother took a seat at the side opposite to Tsuna's summon.

Wasn't that an odd thought? Tsuna barely owned anything at all in the world and now, this being that was powerful enough to have a human shape, had wanted to contract with him. The very thought sent shivers down his spine.

"So," his brother began, after giving a brief nod to Tsuna's summon, "you finally did it."

Tsuna gave an awkward nod. "Yeah. I guess so."

The Very Powerful Thing that was Tsuna's summon shifted in their seat, and for a fraction of a second Tsuna saw a split in the skin of the earth and of the sun, a bleeding gaping thing from which this being had not been born, for it had not been a child or a baby but it had come into being from this cesarean section in existence. The stars went out, or perhaps they were swallowed by the shadows dripping from what might have been limbs as it crawled, crawled, hungry and searching for something to _chew-_

" _ **STOP."**_

And there was Ieyasu, standing up in a swirl of power. "You," he faced Tsuna's summon, eyes glowing bright and beautiful. "What are you? Tell me your name."

It's an obvious show of power, but for all the good it does him the summon is still sitting back, reclined, eyeing the tubes that are hooked into Tsuna's wrists. They finger one, and then they speak.

"I am Reborn. I am Tsuna's summon." Tsuna was able to understand now that they were male. His eyes, black as coal, glinted. Carefully, Reborn pinched one of the thinner tubes and made eye contact with Ieyasu. The unheard words are clear. _You are playing a dangerous game. I can play it too._ Trapped between two forces of pure power Tsuna's head throbs and he feel the pain right down into his sinuses.

Ieyasu stiffened and sneered. The thing on his shoulder suddenly seemed so much bigger and dripping down his back with thick tarlike blobs of-

"Tsuna. You need to breathe." Two hands cup his face, human hands. He can feel the pulse. His brother kept speaking. "Tsuna. You must answer my questions as honestly as you can alright?"

Reborn shuffled to rest his weight on his left leg. The floor cracks.

"What did you give it?"

Tsuna blinked, long and slow.

"What?"

Ieyasu shook him by the shoulders.

"What. Did. You. Give. It?"

"Blood," Tsuna rasped.

"And bile." Reborn let go of the tube and began to walk around the bed, slowly, surely. "And spittle. And sweat. And tears. And new burned flesh." He stopped just the Ieyasu's left, his brother now looking over his shoulder at him, pale and drawn, still clutching Tsuna like a lifeline.

He's afraid, Tsuna realized. His brother is scared. But for once, Tsuna isn't. He is tired and he is afraid but he is not scared.

Reborn drifted off to the other side of the room, a dark silhouette by the bookcase in the medical bay.

Ieyasu stayed by Tsuna's side, looking as though he had just shaken hands with death.

" _Tsuna,"_ he said, voice hoarse and soft, " _you gave it too much!"_

 _To Be Continued_

This is the most useless chapter I have ever written, but it is still a necessary evil. Oh well. Tell me what you think?


End file.
